Pages

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Bread and Butter Pickles, Made Easy

"Learn how to make pickles" has been on my recipe Bucket List for a long time. It's somewhere between "Learn how to make sourdough bread" and "Learn if there is such a thing as non-fat Puff Pastry". Me thinks I'll never find the answer to the last thing on my list, but one can only hope. While shopping at my local farm stand, I asked "Sarah" if I still had more time for their organic fresh-picked strawberries. I have learned how to make my own jam, and I want to be sure my cupboards are stocked with Olallieberry Jam, Strawberry Jam, Apricot-Pineapple jam and-- my personal favorite-- Raspberry Jam. Sarah didn't hear me say "strawberries" so she blurted out that if I wanted pickling cucumbers that I'd better get them now!

So the moment had arrived. It was time to kick the bucket... the list, that is! So, I grabbed some cucumbers, hoping that I had enough. When I arrived home, I went to my most trusted source of recipe sources...Food Blogs! There are a lot of ways to make Bread & Butter Pickles, but I wanted something easy. Smitten Kitten provided the perfect recipe for me! So, here are the six ingredients I needed, most of which I had on hand. Well, one onion could count for seven, but I count that as a vegetable.

These are a pound of picking cucumbers...

I have a cute little crinkle cutter, so I decided to put it to good use. These are about 1/4" thickness. You could use a mandoline, or a sharp knife. I used a mandoline to slice the onion very thin...

Well, now my math is off! You need salt, so that makes eight ingredients! I used kosher salt. I've heard of picking salt, but I didn't want to invest in too many ingredients, in case my first attempt at pickle making was a flop.

Give this all a nice "mix" and...

...cover with ice and relax for two hours.

Now, drain the the cucumbers and, then, put them in a pot. Grab a smaller pot and turn the stove to medium-high heat...

...and add the coriander seeds, mustard seeds, tumeric, and celery seed. Bring to a boil, and pour over the cucumbers. Bring the pickles and juice back, just to a boil, and remove from heat.

NOTE: When I first tasted the pickles, I thought that I misunderstood, and should have rinsed the salt. They were salty! I later realized there was no need to panic. These didn't taste like what I had hoped until a few hours later.

I decided to boil some water, and do the water bath method for canning. I could hear the lids "ping" as the cooling of the jars sealed the pickles. I left one jar, unopened, because I made "Sliders" and I thought the pickles would be a perfect test drive with these:

VERDICT: So, how were the pickles? Craig loved them. I have to admit that I'm not a fan of dill pickles. If pickles are mistakenly put on my burgers, I confess that I will quickly remove the offending condiment. But these pickles are very different. My son, who has inherited my dislike of dill pickles refused to try one. I gave him those "Mama Guilty-Puppy Eyes". He ate one. Then another. These are sweet, but not overly sweet. Many recipes I saw use a lot more sugar. Increase or decrease, according to your taste. Just keep two things in mind-- the saltiness mellowed by the next day. The sweetness increased by the next day. There's a nice bonus to eating these pickles-- I love it when I bite into a coriander seed. Mmmmm!

This weekend, I hope that Sarah still has some cucumbers for me. I'm making more. If you're on my Christmas list, please pretend you didn't see this post. It might be in your gift basket.

The printable recipe is at the bottom of this post. So, what's on your Recipe Bucket List?

Enjoy!

Easy Bread & Butter Pickles

<p>I&#8217;ve never picked a thing before I made these sweet &#38; sour pickles. You don&#8217;t have to use the water bath system of canning to preserve these, because they&#8217;ll probably disappear pretty fast. Either way, you only need five ...

I'm going to pretend that these are spicy, sour dill pickles and nor bread and butter. I love pickles but hate the sweet ones. But I have to have them cold or at room temperature- not warm on a burger. I'm quick to flick those off too :-)

Love B&B pickles! My husband and I use to make them each year(when we had a garden). I add green peppers to mine along with the onion. I also use to make dill pickle each year..I have an easy peasy refrigerator pickle recipe that I love. So..now you've inspired me to make pickles again. Off to the market this morning in search of cukes. Hope it's not too late. :)

Beautiful! Love the crinkle cutter! I've been a pickle fan all my life. I even asked for a jar of pickles for my birthday when I was a kid! (Crazy!) I've made refrigerator pickles, but would love to get up the nerve to do the whole water bath approach.

Erin (my daughter) gave me some of her pickles and we all rated them an 11+. Best bread and butters I've ever eaten, Debby. I save the pickle juice and add some more thinly sliced onions to it. I don't want to waste a single drip of liquid.

Welcome!

Welcome to my internet kitchen. Please, sit back and relax, and watch me make delicious food and bakery recipes. Most of my recipes are simple, flavorful meals-- and a few baked treats. I focus on using fresh, seasonal ingredients and I try to avoid using boxed mixes and processed foods. I'm having fun learning how to cook like my grandmother once did-- from scratch! I hope that my step-by-step photos will inspire a timid cook to try them. Even if you're a seasoned cook, hopefully you'll learn a new tip or two.

If you have any questions,or just want to say "hello", please feel free to email me: foodiewife@gmail.com

Join Me On Facebook

My Cookbook Collection

My Beloved Pressure Cooker

Please respect my photo's copyrights!

Please be courteous. Don't steal my content!

Unfortunately, I am finding that my photos are being copied and used on other blogs. This is not cool to do, so please don't!If you'd like to use one of my photographs, all you have to do is email me at foodiewife@gmail.com. Please, do not use my photographs to represent a recipe that isn't mine, and without linking it back to me. Failure to use my work without my permission is copyright infringement. Thank you!

Looking for a specific recipe? Start here:

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address:

Please start your Amazon shopping here. I receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you!

Lemony Roasted Asparagus

Bavarian Hot Cross Buns

Meyer Lemon Tartlettes

Grab A Button

Do you "Pinterest"?

Privacy Policy

This policy is valid from 30 August 2014

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.

The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network. Those advertisements will be identified as paid advertisements.

The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.